Expanding your dental practice’s digital presence is an absolute necessity to be competitive in local markets. While much of the work that comprises a digital marketing strategy is done online, there are some ways that you can improve your practice’s digital identity offline as well.
Make More Public Appearances
Good old-fashioned face time is still one of the best ways to spread awareness about your dental practice, and improve your professional network. Guest speaking, volunteering with local charitable organizations, participating in a local fundraising campaign – all are fantastic ways to meet more people and improve your brand awareness. You might also attend local holiday celebrations, or sponsor a booth at a fun run.
All of these activities not only connect you with the community, but when you’re involved with anything that has the potential for getting you or your practice recognized online as well, you will be building valuable in-bound links to your practice website and telling Google that you belong in that area.
Use Office Signage
Signs are a great way to remind people to find your dental practice online – and they don’t need to be complicated. You can print your own signs that say something like “We want to know what you think,” or, “Find us on Google or Facebook.” These sort of simple reminders go a long way in garnering more reviews, increasing your social media traffic and sending more people to your website.
Signs that ask questions can also generate positive responses. Consider using signs that ask a question to elicit a response in the form of a review. “How did we do?” or, “How was your visit today?” are just two examples of leading questions that can inspire a patient to review your dental practice.
Remember to always include a call to action that points your patients to your social media accounts like Facebook and Yelp so that they know where to go when reviewing your practice. Additionally, you should hang the signs in high traffic areas like the lobby or where parents are using their phones.
Making signs takes time. Click here for information about how Smile Savvy can help create beautiful signs for your dental practice.
Train Your Staff to be Aware of Patient Experience
Customer service is vital to establishing and maintaining patient loyalty for your dental practice. In fact, a recent study showed that 95% of people who have a bad customer experience with a business will tell someone about it, and 50% more likely to leave a negative review or share their experience on social media. Conversely, you can create an awesome patient experience and generate more positive reviews and social media shares.
When training new staff, or just refreshing your staff about in-office communication, be sure to stress the importance of creating a positive patient experience. This can help you retain your current patients, and create more brand cheerleaders – people that advocate your brand to friends and family. Your staff needs to be aware of patients who are unhappy before they leave your practice.
Is Your Dental Practice Social Enough?
Most of these tactics require you to be actively social, and that can be difficult for a lot of busy dentists. However, a strong social media presence is one of the most cost effective ways to capture a local audience, drive more traffic to your website, and earn better search rankings.
Smile Savvy creates engaging social media posts about pediatric dentistry that inform and entertain your followers. Click here to learn more about our Social Media packages, and how we can help you get more social with your local audience.
